The big question was whether Juergen Klopp's team could match the impressive new surroundings and the cracking atmosphere on the pitch and send a message to the rest of the Premier League big boys that they do not intend to be left behind in the race for honours.

The answer was an emphatic "yes" but not before farcically briefly handing their opponents a way back into the game, as Liverpool so often do.

Cast your minds to Boxing Day last year and you may remember Liverpool beating Leicester 1-0.

Many pundits predicted that day that the Leicester bubble would burst, yet Claudio Ranieri's side lost only one further game, tearing up a number of scripts in the process.

No-one really expects Leicester to repeat that feat this season but, if there were one team capable of wrecking the Anfield party this morning, on paper at least, it was Ranieri's men who must have been encouraged by the Liverpool teamsheet which showed two midfielders in the back four after Dejan Lovren took a knock to the head in the warm-up and was replaced by Lucas Leiva.

Midfielder James Milner continued to deputise in the left-back position.

Liverpool's only other change saw Daniel Sturridge make his second start of the season while the most notable omission from Leicester's line-up was record signing Islam Slimani who wasn't even on the bench - a strange decision rendered even stranger when the Foxes were forced to chase the game as early as the 13th minute.

A glorious Liverpool move found Roberto Firmino on the edge of the area and he turned Robert Huth before beating Kasper Schmeichel.

Teams are gradually realising that the best way to break Leicester down is to work as hard as them, give them no time on the ball and hurt them by sending runners from midfield deep into their defence.

Leicester were being pulled all over the place, however, and soon found themselves two down as Sturridge's backheel fell to Sadio Mane who clipped it past the Danish goalkeeper.

That should have given Liverpool the cushion they needed to relax. Instead, in trademark style, they handed Leicester an unexpected lifeline.

Lucas, the makeshift centre back, tried to toe-poke to the ball across to his goalkeeper but only succeeded in rolling it straight to Jamie Vardy who knocked it in from five metres for his third goal of the season.

Typical Liverpool. So much in control yet suddenly so error-prone. You could almost feel the tension and anxiety as Leicester, having been totally outplayed, almost levelled when Robert Huth's header looped on to the top of the crossbar.

It was hard to know which dressing room would have been the happier at half-time but, with his team needing more pace, Ranieri sent on Ahmed Musa for Okazaki having already been forced to replace Danny Simpson who took a first-half knock.

Yet, just as Ranieri's men were threatening an equaliser, Liverpool restored their two-goal advantage.

Adam Lallana took advantage of lovely work from England teammate Sturridge to hit a wonder strike into the top left corner.

This time, despite Simon Mignolet's terrific save from Vardy and some late pressure, there was no way back for Leicester. With a minute left, Firmino bagged Liverpool's fourth to round off a fine display.